Transcript Join the Conversation The Social Web Presented by Sabra Schneider King County Webmaster & [email protected] http://www.twitter.com/sabrak What we’ll talk about The good, the bad, the ugly  The state.

Join the
Conversation
The Social Web
Presented by
Sabra Schneider
King County Webmaster &
[email protected]
http://www.twitter.com/sabrak
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What we’ll talk about
The good, the bad, the ugly
 The state of the media
 Tools and definitions
 Two case studies
 Best practices
 Getting started
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Bad news first: no one will be
comfortable with this
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You may not have a policy
Management may not be excited
You may need to bypass traditional channels
Someone, somewhere, will say something awful
Tools change fast
There are few actual rules and few actual experts
People in your organization will present you with
worst case scenarios
You don’t have time and won’t get additional staff
 None
of this should stop you
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And the good news…
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Tools are easy and low cost
You can leverage different people
in your organization
You’ll be part of creating the
conversation: proactive, instead of reactive
Instant feedback is awesome
28% of people in the US have called, spoken to, emailed
others, signed an online petition or joined an effort as a
result of reading something on a blog
Influencers will often use your work verbatim!
Transparency, transparency, transparency
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Social media is about connection
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Open, transparent, available:
scary at first
Participate in communities
you want to engage with
Social media = conversation
Ultimately about relationships
Some can’t be filtered, some
can
Think about it as an ongoing,
free focus group
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Making connections
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I asked
Twitter…
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“Why should
govt. entities
use Twitter?”
Within 5 mins
we had the
following
responses:
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Why now? Fundamental communications changes
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Recession, fractured
audiences, internet and
handheld devices common
Familiar mass media outlets
sinking
Newspapers struggling to
adapt to changing demands
of readers
Old media recognizing
speed and impact of social
media. e.g., Iran, Amazon
fail and flood
communications.
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Pew Age Report
Under 40
expect to get
information
free.
Texting and
communicating
at a level never
imagined.
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Talking Tools: Social networking
Use the right tools for the job and be prepared for
them to change quickly.
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Overview
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Social bookmarking: del.icio.us, Furl,
Ma.gnolia
 Social recommendation: Digg,
StumbleUpon
 Social content: Flickr, YouTube, Wikis,
Blogs
 Tracking: Bloglines, Google reader,
Google alerts, RSS readers, RSS
Popper
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Details
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Social networking: Twitter, Facebook,
 Measurement metrics
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RSS: Real Simple Syndicate is your
BFF (Tracking and Publishing)
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Add something once, use a code snippet to
publish it anywhere automatically
Updates links about your organization in one place, have
it appear on your home page and blog automatically
Update your blog, have it appear on your home page
automatically
Somewhat technical, may require IT assistance
Automation cuts staff time needed for tracking/updating
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Tracking the social media buzz
Subscribe and track
updates to your news
sources including twitter
(Bloglines, Google Reader, RSS Popper)
 Let people subscribe to yours too (make
your RSS feed obvious and visible)
 Google alerts on big topics
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Social networking
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Tweeting
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Upside: Fast, easy, free, IT not required, 2 way dialog usually civil,
instant connections
 Downside: feeding the beast, shallow communication, limited reach
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Facebook
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Upside: Fast, easy, free, IT not required, 2 way dialog, instant
connections,
 Downside: not always civil, challenging to monitor, less control over
profile
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Blogging
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Upside: Low cost, lighter voice, fast, can create dialog with residents,
doesn’t require IT
 Downside: Frequent posts and comment policy needed, often same
people commenting
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Upside for all: comments much more civil than most
media outlet comments and can be filtered
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Twitter: Tools for success
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Create a short account name
Use short URL’s (ie bit.ly or
similar)
Do retweet others messages,
create conversations (“RT
@sabrak” or “via @sabrak” is
the etiquette)
Follow others when it makes
sense
Answer questions
Search for yourself and
respond
Use your media partners
Slow growth is ok
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Allow room for people to
retweet without editing.
Account name +4 characters.
(IE sabrak + 4=10 characters)
Track your reach (bit.ly, Klout,
twInfluence, Twitter Analyzer,
TweetEffect and tweetreach)
Hash tag your tweets
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Twitter: Samples
Vocab to know: tweet, retweet, tweetup, tweeps, hash tag
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Twitter: Fail
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Don’t just push out information, add
value to the community
Don’t follow people at random to
increase followers (Mr.
Tweet is helpful, so is
searching)
Be on top of it
You don’t have to follow
everyone who follows you Mr. Tweet, good way to find
new people to follow.
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Facebook: When to connect
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As a person for networking, yes
 Your
parents, boss, future boss and children will see
it. Treat it as such.
 We don’t want to know when you woke up, make it
interesting
 Assume no privacy
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For your organization
 Has
to be associated with a regular account
 Make sure you have time/content to keep it current
 Some thing can be automated, others, not
 Have purpose. What goals are you trying to reach?
 Track links, use, success
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Good practice
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Facebook: What not to do
Too many updates
in a day for your org
 Only promote your
organization
 Send too many emails
 Automate everything
 Build it, then don’t
promote it or update it
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Blogging: Is it right for your org?
Questions to ask
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Do you have something
interesting to say often?
Do you have a audience?
Can you staff up for
content/comments etc?
Plan for success
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Update twice a week
Be interesting and current
Link to it everywhere (feed facebook, twitter,
your email subject line etc)
Allow comments, even if screened
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Blogging: Potential issues
Maintenance
 Civility
(comments)
 Engagement
 Figure out why
you’re blogging
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Case study one: Integration, participation
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Case study continued: KC Votes
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Goals: To showcase final
poll election. To create a
new media message about
transparency, better
systems and voter
involvement.
Used Twitter, Flickr, blog,
YouTube, kingcounty.gov
and most importantly:
VOTERS
Why and how?
Used flickr, blog and code to
create automatic galleries easy
to deploy from the field.
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Case study two: Z the hamster
Why the untold stories are perfect for new media
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Z the hamster was left on a metro bus
And brought to the KC Animal Shelter
Then featured on the KC home page
And Twittered about on @kcnews
Resident viewed the tweet
Went to the shelter, picked up Z
Tweeted adoption
Service, outreach, untold story success!
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Remember
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Social media is a tool, not a
panacea
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It should enhance current
communications efforts, not replace
them
Set specific goals: don’t do it
just to do it
Integrate into work programs to
reach new audiences
Things will change, be tool
and software independent
Share the load but make sure
someone is in charge of
responding and feeding the
beast
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Best Practices
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Actively listen and use volunteers
and most connected people to help
Engage in conversation (the social part)
Know who’s covering you and what
they’re saying, track it and participate in it
Break down barriers, personalize it. “Why
aren’t the buses running in the snow?”
“Bus and road crews working around the
clock to try to keep us moving in the worst
snow in 20 years”
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Collaborate with partners, share
Participate and add value
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Say thank you often
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Best Practices cont.
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Feed the beast often, recommended
minimums:
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3x day for twitter
2x times a week for blog (or more)
1x time a day for facebook (more for
conversations)
Unless you can hire new staff, share
the load amongst a team of people
Ask your communities what they want
from you and listen
Set goals and track results, adjust
course as needed
Talk to your legal team about your
goals and projects
WA DOT
blog sidebar.
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Getting started
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Get a sponsor or supporter in
senior leadership.
Form a team of “yes” players.
Social media is very
challenging with the “no”
crew.
Decide what makes sense for
your goals/org.
Start small, with quiet
promotions, leverage existing
social media.
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Getting started cont.
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Talk with your networks, not to
them.
Find a friend in IT who can help you
integrate and leverage tools.
Try to adjust your work load to give
a team members 1-2 hours a day
for this work.
Have fun with it. Use a breezier
voice. This isn’t your mother’s
communications plan.
See slide 3 and feel comforted.
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Questions and Thanks!
Sabra Schneider,
King County WebMaster
[email protected]
http://www.twitter.com/kcnews
Non Government info
[email protected]
http://www.twitter.com/sabrak
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